The Disappearing Gospel

Is the gospel vanishing? Many are pointing out the shallowness of modern preaching. They say that true gospel preaching is taking a back seat to ear-tickling, feel-good, motivational messages which are designed to attract those who are now deemed "the unchurched." I have to say I agree with this assessment. The more I learn about movements within Christendom (purpose driven, seeker sensitive, government of twelve, word of faith, etc.), the more I see that true biblical preaching is falling by the wayside. Before you completely shut down, consider what Jesus asked: "...when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?" (Luke 18:8) Christ is not speaking here of any kind of faith or a general faith in God. There is an untranslated definite article* in the Greek manuscripts. It should read, "...shall he find the faith on the earth?" Also Paul told Timothy: "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils." (1 Timothy 4:1) Doesn't sound like the world gradually becoming more Christian as we're often told. Instead, it sounds more like the church of the Laodiceans who said, "I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing." But the Lord informed them that "thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked." (Revelation 3:17) Too often, I hear pastors and teachers inviting people to begin a relationship with God or to come to Jesus without telling people why they need to do such a thing. It's not enough simply to tell people about God or even Jesus. Paul warned about another Jesus and another gospel (2 Cor. 11:3-4; Galatians 1:6-7). We must make sure that people understand just what the gospel is and why they need it. Paul stated it briefly in 1 Corinthians 15:3-4 -- "For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures." Jesus abbreviated our need for believing the gospel in John 3:36 -- "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him." Simply stated, the gospel (actually the principle message in the entire Bible) is the message of the Cross (1 Cor. 1:18); it is Christ and Him crucified (1 Cor. 1:23, 2:2). God willing, we will explore this message further in later posts.

*(In English, we have the indefinite articles, "a" and "an" and the definite article "the"; Greek has only the definite article. More on this subject later.)

Here is a related article at The Berean Call: "What's Happening to the Faith?"